Emmy Award-winning Feagler & Friends is a lively, weekly half-hour television discussion of local and national issues impacting lives in Northeast Ohio. Hosted by award-winning journalist and former Plain Dealer columnist, Dick Feagler, Feagler & Friends explores the various issues behind today's news. With a changing ensemble of "friends" ranging from journalists to community and political leaders, Feagler & Friends takes on issues from many different perspectives. Always entertaining and never boring, Feagler & Friends is the program for people "in the know" in Northeast Ohio.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Topics: Economy, Politics, Health, Other
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Newsmaker--Gary Adams, president, Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers’ Association: Automakers are in the throes of their worst downturn in decades. And it’s not just the Americans. Sales are down across the board. Locally, car dealers report sales off nearly 37 per cent compared to November of last year. Adams is just back from Washington where he and a national dealers trade group lobbied for the car bailout. He and Mr. Feagler will discuss prospects for getting customers back in the showrooms.

Roundtable: Joan Mazzolini, reporter, The Plain Dealer; Henry Gomez, reporter, The Plain Dealer; Dan Shingler, reporter, Crain’s Cleveland Business.

Auto Bailout: The House of Representatives approved a $14-billion package of emergency loans for General Motors and Chrysler. The package moves onto the Senate, where its future is uncertain because many Republicans in the body do not support it. Ohio Senator George Voinovich, who does support the bailout, is not optimistic that Republicans will change their minds.

City Council Doings: Cleveland City council has been the center of attention this week, some of it unwelcome. Longtime councilman Robert White resigned after being accused of accepting a $500 bribe from a local business. Council approved a city domestic partner registry. It would allow same-sex and other couples to make a legal declaration of their partnership. But it would not grant such couples the same legal rights as spouses in traditional marriages.

Medical News: The Cleveland Clinic has become one of the first hospitals in the country to reveal its doctors’ business ties. The Clinic began this month posting the information as part of physician and researcher profiles on its website. Hospitals are acting in response to increasing questions about potential conflicts of interest on the part of practitioners who might be prone to recommend treatments from which they stand to gain financially.

Mayors and Money: What’s good for business would be good for American cities. U.S. Mayors, including Akron’s Don Plusquellic, were in Washington this week asking Congress to pass a public-works stimulus package that would pay for large-scale projects in cities and create thousands of jobs.

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